This disclosure relates in general to image capture systems and, but not by way of limitation, to digital image capture using an imaging array.
Conventional CMOS Image sensors accumulate statistics from light incident on the image array pixels. The light incident on the image array pixels typically passes through a lens. These pixels are used to gather statistical information that is used for a variety of conventional image control algorithms, most notably:                White Balance correction—adjusting the image color response to the spectrum of the light source.        Automatic Exposure/Gain Setting—increasing the exposure time and/or the gain so as to get higher contrast when there is not enough light, and to avoid saturation when there is too much light.        Backlight Compensation—increasing the contrast of a dark object of interest, when it is posed against a bright background.        Automatic Flicker Control—detection and correction of flicker phenomena, occurring when the frequency light source fluctuations is different from the scanning frequency of the camera.        Automatic Focus—moving the lens toward or away from the image sensor, so that the object of interest would be in focus.        Automatic Flash Control—controls the need to fire flash or other illumination means (auxiliary light source) in low light conditions, as well as the strength and/or duration of the auxiliary light source.The common denominator to all the algorithms described above is that the source of the information is the captured image (i.e., the field of view visible through the lens); and, out of that, the objects which are in focus on the image sensor array. This captured image is the input that these algorithms use to perform the above algorithms.        
Camera or imaging modules are being embedded into all kinds of devices, for example, phones and computer displays. The quality of these camera modules continues to advance. The camera module includes an image sensor and digital processing of the information gathered from that image sensor. A processed digital signal is produced by the camera module to convey the digital pictures, video and/or control information with the device embedding the camera module.